The Binghamton University housing license, which requires dorming students to live on campus for a full school year, with few exceptions, is causing confusion and controversy for students who had other housing plans for the spring semester.

The license, which has been established for at least 14 years, states that “the only permissible reason for a resident to cancel the license is if he or she will not be a student at the University.”

According to Grace Hoefner, senior associate director of Residential Life, BU’s Residential Life made an exception to this license last year and allowed anyone to move off campus because they hoped to break up a number of forced triples.

“Because this was not our usual practice, we made very sure that our on-campus residents knew this was not happening again this year,” Hoefner said. “In addition to having the students accept the license before signing up for housing, we made further attempts to make sure students were aware of this policy.”

These attempts included two e-mails sent to students explaining that once students accept occupancy, they are fully liable for the terms of the academic license.

According to Hoefner, when students were signing in to their dorms, they were given a statement on their key registration cards explaining that they are “bound to live on campus for the entire academic year.”

Students who want to move off campus are often denied and told that they agreed to these terms by signing up for on-campus housing, Hoefner said. Hoefner added that she works with these students to “explore their room-change options on campus.”

While many students are happy living on campus for a full academic year, others planned to move off campus for the spring semester to sublet, or to fill in the rent of a friend going abroad who lives in a house or apartment Downtown or in the University Plaza Apartments (UP).

The rules of the housing license leave both the student looking for a sublet and the student looking to move off campus in difficult positions.

“I have one specific person I am looking to have move into my house for the spring semester, but she cannot move off campus because of this policy,” said Lauren Fredericks, a junior majoring in human development who has plans to study abroad this spring. “I want her to sublet for me and she wants to move off campus, but she can’t.”

Fredericks’ final decision to study abroad now depends on whether or not she can find someone to sublet her room in her house.

According to Fredericks, the girl she had in mind to sublet for her wants to move off campus, and has parental permission to do so, but with this policy she is locked into campus housing even though she only paid for the current semester.

“I think this is so stupid,” Fredericks said. “It’s not fair. If she wants to move off campus why can’t she make her own decisions for her college experience? If this policy didn’t exist it could break up more triples. It’s also easier for someone to move from campus to an apartment to sublet since they already might want to move off campus.”

Fredricks is currently still looking for a sublet for the spring semester, and despite placing ads on Craigslist and posting fliers around campus, she said that this policy is causing her problems.

According to Corky Gatewood, the vice president of marketing and professional development of Ambling Management Company, who owns UP, a phone conversation between BU staff and the leasing staff of UP took place on Tuesday, Nov. 19, where policies on subletting and early termination of housing agreements and/or leases were discussed.

Gatewood stated that UP has not changed or revised its housing policies, which do not allow early lease terminations and, at this time, has no intention of altering its lease to “mimic or compete with the campus housing agreement.”

“Management has equally enforced the community lease agreement among all residents for the past four years and will continue [to] observe this practice,” he said.

If a student living in UP plans on leaving mid-lease, they are responsible for finding a sublet for the remaining portion of their lease agreement, Gatewood said.

According to Gatewood, when students sign a lease agreement with UP, they have a legally binding contract for a full lease, which is currently from Aug. 18 to Jul. 31.

Although parents and students have initially made appeals through ResLife against the housing contract, once informed of the license and the ways the students were informed of it, no further appeals were made, Hoefner said.